Enablers And Constraints

Chapter 8 - Other Enablers and Constraints

In order to develop an effective process improvement plan one must use more than just methodology, we must create an environment that is conductive to implementing the plan. We must analyze the situation and overcome the built in constraints.

Some of the constraints that may affect the process improvement and change efforts are Cultural and Behavioral Factors, Organizational Structure, and Technology. These factors influence incremental and fundamental improvement efforts. The initiatives weaken because of a company's failure to consider these constraints, which in turn, limits success of the plan. In order to identify the constraints we must evaluate the risk and plan appropriately to change the process to improve the initiatives.

Constraints on a larger scale create a higher risk. The organizations, which are more inept to change, thrive on change. Smaller organizations may have the same constraints if the environment is designed on the effort made to change the initiative.

In order to see if the factor is either an enabler or a constraint the organization must decide if there is an alignment with the organization goals and strategy. The organization as a whole must be examined as a system in order to understand the relationship of the different areas of performance. If a company invest in developing environments where the culture, values, organization structure and supporting system offer rewards they will have an easier task to implement process improvement and reengineering efforts.

In order for the key processes to be improved the change must be visible to outsiders and upper management in the organization as well. The largest hurdle is to convincing the organization as a whole that there is a need for change before the problems start and becoming proactive by approaching the problems head-on.

A factor that must be taken in consideration when writing quality standards is the human behavioral aspects of the business process. When evaluating real quality we must realize that it comes from the heart of the people that are actually doing the job. They must take pride and believe in what they are doing. Management believes that if you write a process people will just follow it but that is not how it works. The environment adopted by the organization must be one of ongoing change by including individuals and creating team across the organization. Below are some of the ways a company can approach a change process.

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